Conroe, December 29 – As the citizens of Montgomery County enter 2018, they’re faced with a Montgomery County government that carries a reputation as one of the most corrupt, backward, and poorly-run counties in Texas if not the entire United States. As State Representative Mark Keough, who is running as a reformer for Montgomery County […]

Image: Renowned child welfare attorney Stephanie J. Hall (center) with two friends. Conroe, October 6 – Renowned child welfare attorney Stephanie J. Hall issued a statement to The Golden Hammer this afternoon in which she distanced herself from Advocates for Families in Crisis (AFC), the County vendor which finds itself in an institutional crisis as a […]

Conroe, August 18 – Precinct 2 Montgomery County Commissioner candidate Gregory Parker called for “punitive” ethics reforms concerned nepotism and conflicts of interest for the entire County government. Nepotism has been a particularly strong issue in the Precinct of County Commissioner Charlie Riley, whom Parker and local businessman Brian Dawson are challenging, after Riley created […]

Conroe, August 13 – The members of the Montgomery County Commissioners Court clearly have great difficulty keeping track of conflicts of interest. Interestingly, at least two of the five Court members seem to understand the basic concept of the need to avoid conflicts of interest and they even seem to understand a basic means of […]

Conroe, June 20 – Montgomery County’s Judge, Craig Doyal, and Commissioners have provided conflict of interest disclosures which are woefully inadequate. The disclosures, which appear under the “Transparency” tab on the County’s beleaguered website, raise more questions than provide any answers, especially with respect to Doyal. State law of conflict of interest disclosures Chapter 176 […]

The Montgomery County government needs a County Judge for 4-year term beginning January 1, 2019, with the following qualifications: Must commit to: Reduce County spending by $100 million by end of 4-year term Invest $40 million of the savings into increasing law enforcement spending to (1) increase “boots on the ground” in line with FBI […]

The Montgomery County government needs a Precinct 2 County Commissioner for 4-year term beginning January 1, 2019, with the following qualifications: Must commit to: Reduce County spending by $100 million by end of 4-year term Invest $40 million of the savings into increasing law enforcement spending to (1) increase “boots on the ground” in line […]

Conroe, April 23 – The Golden Hammer, Montgomery County’s leading daily newspaper, celebrates 100 days of publication today. The online newspaper began publication at 12:01 a.m., Saturday, January 14, 2017. For the first three weeks, the paper published weekly. It also had some major kinks to work out. One of them was the appearance. In its […]

Conroe, April 15 – At this past Tuesday, April 11’s Commissioners Court meeting, Montgomery County Attorney J.D. Lambright attempted to raise an ethics concern about the appearance of a conflict of interest of one of the members of the County’s new Ethics Committee, Dale Inman, of Montgomery. The Commissioners Court brushed Lambright off hardly without […]

Conroe, March 28 – County Auditor Phyllis Martin, named the “eighth most powerful person in Montgomery County” at the end of 2016, received “The Golden Hammer Award” at the March 28, 2017, County Commissioners Court meeting. Martin has cost County taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and looks to cost many tens of million more […]